BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Any organization, large or small, has the potential to impact the environment — for good, and for bad, Steve Fernstrom said.
- The Bethlehem Parking Authority earned the 2023 Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence
- The authority’s Park Green program sustainability initiatives include transportation, efficient operations and green garages
- The authority has also partnered with city schools to teach students about sustainability
“The parking authority — we're really no different,” said Fernstrom, executive director of the agency. “We basically invite emission-emitting vehicles to our facilities daily. We own and operate quite large facilities that run 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We have large vehicle fleets that circle city blocks; we design large buildings and we have a large staff that consume water, electricity daily.
“And most parking authorities are within a dense, urban environment. So we just felt that it was our duty and responsibility to minimize those impacts.”
Working to minimize negative environmental impacts has acted as the catalyst for the authority’s Park Green program. A sustainability initiative with a focus on realistic and attainable goals, the program was recently recognized by state officials, garnering the 2023 Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence.
“These programs are in place for us to say, ‘Hey, we're here. We're helping the community out and we're gonna keep doing it,’” Fernstrom said.
These programs are in place for us to say, ‘Hey, we're here. We're helping the community out and we're gonna keep doing it.'Steve Fernstrom, executive director of the Bethlehem Parking Authority
‘An example for continuous sustainability improvements’
Last month, city parking authority officials announced they received the statewide award for sustainable practices from the Department of Environmental Protection and the Pennsylvania Environmental Council.
More than a dozen organizations and agencies across the commonwealth were recognized.
Collectively, the award-winning projects grew and donated nearly 10,000 pounds of organic produce to people in need; planted approximately 17,000 grasses, 15,000 trees and thousands of shrubs; added over 43 megawatts of solar energy; reduced greenhouse gas emissions by over 47,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide; and avoided the use of thousands of gallons of gasoline, among other achievements, according to state officials.
The recognition is something the authority has been working towards for more than two years, Fernstrom said.
“In early 2020, we began to kind of think about and conceptualize incorporating a sustainability program into the day to day operations of the authority,” Fernstrom said. “The goal was to build a program that would be an example for continuous sustainability improvements.”
In a news release announcing the award, Fernstrom thanked city Mayor J. William Reynolds and state Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Northampton/Lehigh for their support.
Reynolds was not available to comment on this story. Boscola said the city’s parking authority is deserving of the state recognition.
“Transitioning from fossil fuel-based vehicles to cleaner emitting vehicles in a smart, responsible manner is a priority I share with the Bethlehem Parking Authority,” Boscola said in an emailed statement. “I was proud to partner with them in their efforts to secure grant funding in furtherance of their goal of using cleaner emitting vehicles.”
Pillars and partnerships
The Park Green program is divided into three pillars: transportation, efficient operations and green garages, Fernstrom explained.
Transportation includes the authority’s 15-vehicle fleet, of which half are electric vehicles, as well as making sure charging stations, located in all city parking garages and several parking lots, are available to residents, he said. The efficient operations pillar includes making sure authority policies and procedures work to reduce impacts.
The last pillar, green garages, outlines sustainable building practices for the authority moving forward, he said. Officials are looking into a Parksmart Certification, which recognizes environmental building standards in parking garages.
The authority has also partnered with city schools to lead after-school programs on sustainability, a collaborative effort which Fernstrom thinks will continue to expand.
“It's awesome, I think, when you could blend any public organization within the school system to kind of capture the youth to teach them a little bit about sustainability,” he said. “So I see a lot more partnerships like that happening.”
Those partnerships help break down stigmas associated with parking authorities, Fernstrom said, showing residents the positive work officials are completing in the city.
“I think like, once you peel back the layers, you'll find that there are a lot of good in parking authorities,” Fernstrom said. “That's what we really tried to do he was to build some programs that would inflate us and kind of capture the public's attention that, regulated parking does benefit a community.
“We really do a lot of good things, and we're going to try to do a lot of good things and we're constantly trying to improve ourselves.”
